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DUO-Sweden 2024 FAQ 

 

1.  General Description 

 

Q1. Can an Individual student apply? 

A.  No. Only paired students can apply through the Sweden institution. 

Individuals wishing to take part in exchanges are advised to contact the 
relevant offices (e.g. International Relations Offices) of your institution. 

 

Q2. How can I find a partner student? 

A.  Individuals need to check with the relevant offices at your institution for 

assistance. Please be informed that the ASEM-DUO Secretariat is not 
involved in finding partners or partner institutions. 

 

Q3. How many times does DUO-Sweden open for applications? 

A.  The call for applications of DUO-Sweden is announced ONLY once a year. 

So if you are interested in an exchange in the fall of 2024 or spring of 
2025, you should apply for DUO-Sweden 2024. 

 

Q4. How much is the amount of the fellowship? 

 

A.  The amount of the fellowships is standardized as follows. For high-income 

countries, 3,500 Euros for each Asian and Swedish student will be given. 
For Middle and Low-income countries, the Asian student gets 4,000 Euros 
and the Swedish student gets 3,000 Euros. 

 

2. Application and Selection Procedure 

 

Q5. Who should submit the application? 

A.  Only the contact persons of the Sweden institutions fill out and submit the 

application on behalf of two institutions, to the ASEM-DUO Secretariat. 
Therefore, individuals who wish to apply need to provide all information 
and documents to the designated contact persons of your institution. 

 

Q6. Who is the “Contact Person” indicated in the application form? 

 

A.  The contact person means a regular staff of institutions who arrange the 

exchange projects and is willing to communicate with the Secretariat in 
such events as verifying application details, monitoring exchanges, and 
providing further information on the status of the exchange. In most 
cases, international relations office staffs at institutions are in charge. 

 

Q7. What are the required documents to apply? 

A.  Along with the online application form, the following documents are 

required and all documents should be submitted written in English;  

a.  A valid cooperation agreement (MOU) between paired institutions or 

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declaration of intention to set up a new cooperation agreement 

b.  A copy of passport of paired applicants (valid one) 
c.   A copy of transcript of paired applicants (including the grades up to the 

most recent semester)   

 

Q8. For DUO-Sweden, who selects exchange projects? 

A.  A Swedish Selection Committee, organized by the Swedish Council for 

Higher Education (UHR), will make the selection after the application 
deadline.  

 

Q9. When the selection procedure will be announced? 

A.  The decision will be announced in June 2024. As soon as the selection 

result is announced on ASEM-DUO website, the selected applicants and 
their contact persons will be informed by the Secretariat through e-mail. 

 

Q10. What are the selection criteria? 

A.  Selection criteria are at the discretion of the Swedish Selection Committee. 

 

3.  Instruction for Application Form 
Q11. If we do not have an ID in the online application page, how can we 
apply? 

A.  Please contact the Secretariat and ask to add your institution to the list 

and get an ID. Please note that one institution will have ONLY ONE ID.   

 

Q12. Should the academic year, periods of exchange and field of 
exchange coincide for each pair? 

 

A.  Not necessarily. If the exchange project is executed under the same MOU, 

undergraduate students and graduate students are both eligible for 
exchange.  

 

Q13. (Application page 2) If we could not find our Asian partner 
institution on this page, how can we apply? 

A.  Please contact the Secretariat and ask to add your partner institutions. 

Also, you need to provide the official name of the partner institutions in 
English, their official website, and the country where it is located. 

 

Q14. (Application page 2) How to convert the Asian student’s credits to 
ECTS?  

A.  Please convert it upon the applicant’s institution grading system and put 

the calculated ECTS. In addition, please let us know the conversion rate 
on the application (ex, 1 credit = 1.5 ECTS) since all conversion rate of an 
institution is different. 

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If 1 credit from Asian institution is equivalent to 1.5 ECTS from Sweden 
Institution, 30 credits will be converted to 45 ECTS.   

 

Q15. (Application page 3) How to check the purpose of exchange? 

A.  If the pair applies for Transfer for Credits, both students have to transfer 

their exchange credits to their originating institution after their exchange. 
If any of them will not transfer their exchange credits, those pair also 
needs to click for others and specify in detail. 

 

Q16. (Application page 4) Any guidelines for the exchange details?   

A.  Please be informed that applicant needs to write the list of the courses on 

a semester basis. 

B.  On a semester basis, a minimum of 24 ECTS must be taken up at the 

destination institution. If your purpose of the exchange is other than 
Transfer of Credits, please specify in detail on page 3. 

N.B. If the actual courses on the course certificate differ from courses 
listed on the application, awardees or contact persons are responsible 
for informing the Secretariat for approval; if this procedure is not taken 
beforehand, fellowship award to both awardees is subject to 
cancellation or consequently reimbursement. 

 

Q17. (Application page 4) Is it possible to receive a fellowship from 
another organization?   

A.  If an applicant receives double finance from Swedish Council for Higher 

education, it is not allowed. However, if the applicant has finance from 
another government or university, it seems fine.   

 

Q18. Should we also send the original application?   

A.  No. Only when your exchange project has been selected, the contact 

person of the Sweden institutions should submit the original version 
including the signatures and official stamp of Sweden institutions on 
behalf of two institutions.